Sunday, January 31, 2016

Success does leave clues and
entrepreneurs go where they can find success and once again the convenience
store sector continues to out preformed.Despite
declining fuel prices, the ranks of convenience stores swelled to a record level
last year as did sales according The Association for Convenience &
Fuel Retailing.

Retail
industry research company Nielsen found that, The U.S.
convenience store count increased to 154,195 stores as of December 31,
2015.That convenience stores account
for 34.2% of all outlets in the United States, which is significantly higher
than the U.S. total of other retail channels including superettes, supermarket
and supercenters (51,055 stores), drug stores (41,969 stores) and dollar stores
(27,378 stores).

Entrepreneurs
are drawn to the convenience store sector for the growth and consumer
migration; in fact C-stores are dominated by single-store operators, which
account for 63.1% of all convenience stores (97,359 stores total) and 74.3% of
store growth in 2015. Sales and profits are the key drivers for entrepreneurs
and C-stores once again reported off double-digit sales growth last year even
as major retailers suffered declining revenues amid a prolonged economic
slowdown.

In
contrast, superstores' revenues fell 2.1 percent, and those of department
stores and supermarkets also dropped 1.2 percent and 1.3 percent. So what is
driving C-store success? Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru®
knows and so do regular readers of this blog.Yes according to our Grocerant Guru®, “Grocerant niche
Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food.”

Entrepreneurs
are finding success edifying their locates with food that is sourced local,
menu items edified with local flavors and marketing of products targeting the
growing number of single households, Ready-2-Eat, Heat-N-Eat meals and meal components along with fresh
prepared brewed coffee.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Americans love their Grocerant. Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food
back in the day was seen a treat that replaced the home cooked meal.Today grocerant niche fresh prepared food has
become a staple, a lifestyle, a pantry replacement, and much more according to Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant
Guru®.

In
a “new study from the real-estate
site Zillow, homes tend to
appreciate in value when there is a local Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods nearby.
This finding comes from a wide-ranging examination of city-level data on nearly
3 million homes (single-family, condos, and co-ops spanning more than 80
locations nationwide) within a mile of a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. From 1997
to 2014, the value of these homes exceeded that of the median home in the U.S.,
according to Zillow’s calculations. And by the end of 2014, these homes were
worth more than double the year’s median home value.”

The
Zillow study found, “neighborhoods with an impending Trader Joe’s location
nearby appreciated at the same rate as other homes in the city before the
store’s opening. Two years after the Trader Joe’s opened, however, the median
home values in the area appreciated by 10 percentage points more than the rest
of the city”Trader Joe’s is filled with
grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat food as regular readers of this blog
know.

The
Zillow study suggests that, if gentrification were occurring before the arrival
of a gourmet grocery store, these stores act as a catalyst for rising home
values and neighborhood “upgrading.” Which we all agree is a good thing. The
growth of the grocerant niche was never a fad, it is an expanding trend that
continues to drive change while evolving the face of food retail and much, much
more.

Here
is what is important about this study according to our Grocerant Guru®
“consumers do not want to cook, do dishes or clean up on a daily basis.”There is a lot of talk about neighborhood
gentrification today that however should not be the focus.The fact is 50% of Americans over the age of
18 are single according to the US Census data and single people do
not want to cook every meal from scratch.

Visit: http://www.foodservicesolutions.us/ for more from the Grocerant
Guru® who continually reminds us, that the consumer is dynamic not static. Have you had a Grocerant Scorecard conducted
on your business?Ready-2-Eat and
Heat-N-Eat food sells.

Friday, January 29, 2016

Success
does leave clues and the fast growing adoption of Starbucks’ Mobile Order
& Pay program is clearly a home run for Starbucks.The chain during their Q1 2016 reporting
conference call reported that Mobile rewards users are still growing with a 23%
increase in the last year, and now exceeds 11.1 million users. Starbucks also saw more than one million users
of Mobile Order and Pay this past December, who averaged about five orders per
person that month as well.

Starbucks
noted that Mobile Order and Pay is seeing “significant
adoption rates, but is most popular in the morning at its peak hours for users
attempting to avoid long lines. Currently, there are about 6 million
transactions through the program occurring every month, which shows its
significant potential.”

Michael
Becker, managing partner at mCordis pointed out earlier in
the year that we live in a world driven by mobile moments stating; ‘“We touch
our phones a couple hundred times a day and each of these touches is a mobile
moments,” Mobile Order &
Pay
is fast becoming a ‘happy’ mobile moment according to Foodservice
Solutions®
Grocerant Guru®.

After
our last blog we were flooded with questions about Starbucks success.When we stated that Starbucks was consumer interactive
and participatory
one of the ways is by creating mobile moments.Starbucks reinforced on the Q1 call that people are increasingly turning
to their mobile phones, their watches, to meet their payment demands at key
moments throughout the day, in the morning in Starbuck’s case.

Expanding
the consumer interactive and participatory qualities from Coffee, Food, too
Technology is what Starbucks is doing.Mobile Ordering & Pay is edifying the fact the Starbucks has
customer relevance.That relevance has
its foundation in quality customizable Coffee and that is edified through Mobile
Order & Pay according to our Grocerant Guru®.

“Starbucks
is a bellwether company, they are showing the way for the rest of us,” Mr.
Becker said. “Mobile payments will soon move beyond a nice to have in retail to
a must since people will begin to expect or only frequent those companies that
empower them to pay through and with their mobile devices.”Once again leaders lead and Starbucks is a
true foodservice merchant and success.

Thursday, January 28, 2016

When your average unit volumes are $1 Million Dollars higher than your
peers everyone takes a shot at you every time you try something different.Clearly McDonald’s understands that with
great results come great expectations.

McDonald’s
had a good year in 2015 driven by a ‘better for you’ menu that was focused on
customer expectations, desires and request. Specifically by adding all-day
breakfast menu renewed, refreshed, and edified customers perception of the brand
promise.

Steve
EasterbrookCEO of McDonald’s stated “Our operational growth-led turnaround
is focused on appealing to customers in the areas that matter most to them
– great-tasting, high-quality food, convenience and value,” all day breakfast did just that and more.

In
a study last December by The NPD Group found that ”30 percent of customers who
ordered breakfast menu items after the traditional 10:30 am cutoff hadn’t
visited McDonalds at all in the month before the October roll-out”. NPD
industry icon Bonnie Riggs stated “That’s pretty significant,”

Not
only did the study find that the breakfast menu drew in “new customers, but the
same customers also bought more than just McMuffins. Among the post-breakfast,
breakfast food consumers, 61 percent purchased more than just breakfast foods
during their visit and they typically visited the restaurant during lunch hours.”

The
consumer is dynamic and so is McDonalds. This month McDonalds expanded the halo
of ‘better for you’ by adding cuties once
again as an option for the kids meal. McDonalds is always evolving with
consumers and is currently testing macaroni and cheese in Ohio, breakfast bowls
in California, and sweet potato fries in Texas. The company also plans to test
menu items not typically associated with fast food, such as kale and
quinoa.

Success
does leave clues and McDonald’s has never been static.Not all LTO’s or test items work out but
McDonalds average unit volumes exceed its peers by close to a million dollars a
year for all of the right reasons a brand promise that focuses on the
customer.

Do you understand how to drive top line growth and bottom line profits
within the Grocerant Niche?Looking for
Outside Eye’s for help?Call Foodservice
Solutions® at 253-759-7869 or visit our website at: www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or Email our Global Grocerant Expert at Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us